VOSPER THORNCROFT

Fast ferry and military craft motion control specialists, Maritime Dynamics, Inc. (MDI),
have added Bureau Veritas to the classification approvals for their Ride Control System with Autopilot.
MDI, part of the U.K.’s vosper Thorncroft Group, already has approval form Det Norske Veritas and the American Bureau of Shipping for its RCS and Autopilot.
The RCS monitors vessel attitude and automatically positions effectors to reduce accelerations arising from pitch, roll and heave motions. The additional MDI integrated autopilote provides commands to the vessel’s steering system to dampen yaw motions and provide heading control. Over 100MDI RCS have been supplied to fast craft throughout the world.

U.K.-based software house Marine Software Ltd has successfully delivered its DNV type approved Marine Planned Maintenance system on QinetiQ’s Trimaran demonstrator vessel R.V. Triton . This innovative test vessel comes after ten years of research and is the largest motor powered trimaran demonstrator ever built, also being the worlds first of class ship based on this new
concept triple-hull design.
QinetiQ, formerly known as the Defense Evaluation and Research Agency ( DERA )

The U.K. Ministry of Defense said it hoped a new contract with naval shipbuilder Vosper Thornycroft would save 450 workers from the company's planned 650 job cuts announced in December. Vosper Thornycroft is building three offshore patrol vessels at its Southampton, southern England, shipyard for the Royal Navy. The vessels will replace existing ships involved with protecting fishing regulations. "Construction of the vessels is expected to safeguard around 450 jobs at Vosper Thornycroft's

The U.K. Ministry of Defense hopes a new contract with naval shipbuilder Vosper Thornycroft would save 450 workers from the company's planned 650 job cuts announced in December. Vosper Thornycroft is building three offshore patrol vessels at its Southampton, southern England, shipyard for the Royal Navy. The vessels will replace existing ships involved with protecting fishing regulations.
"Construction of the vessels is expected to safeguard around 450 jobs at Vosper Thornycroft's

BAE Systems Plc is engaged in a bitter fight with naval shipbuilder Vosper Thornycroft to secure the contract to build all 12 of the Royal Navy's new Type 45 destroyers, the Financial Times reported. The BAE is said to have offered to leave the field clear for Vosper in warships less that 85 m long, but the Hampshire shipbuilder has secured the backing of a group of MPs in the interest of preserving competition in U.K. warship building

Vosper Thornycroft Holdings Plc said on Tuesday it may have to make up to 650 people redundant due to a shortage of short-term shipbuilding production work. Vosper said the redundancy notices would not take effect until early next year and would only come into force if the company was unable to secure additional work. "We are taking this action as a precautionary measure. No company can keep people employed indefinitely on maintenance and other temporary work without damaging its overall

U.K. shipbuilder Vosper Thornycroft Holdings Plc has been selected as preferred bidder by the Ministry of Defense to supply two survey ships in a deal worth up to $150 million. "Our selection as preferred bidder is recognition of our expertise in the U.K. and overseas as a prime contractor," Chief Executive Martin Jay said in a statement. The 90-m vessels are due for delivery in 2002 and Vosper anticipates signing the contract by early summer

Vosper Thornycroft Holdings Plc hopes to move its shipbuilding operations to Portsmouth from Southampton, including its work on the Royal Navy's new destroyer. The company said it had compared the merits of Portsmouth Naval Base and its current shipyard at Woolston, Southampton and that greater space at Portsmouth gave it clear advantages. "Portsmouth is our preferred location, but any move will be subject to successful negotiations with the Ministry of Defense for the lease of land and

French defense group Thomson-CSF plans to bid for British warship builder Vosper Thorneycroft, which in turn is preparing a bid for U.K.-based Hunting Engineering, according to press reports.
Officials of Thomson-CSF, which recently acquired defense electronics company Racal Plc, said the company could bid up to 15 pounds ($22.46) per share, valuing Vosper at $754.6 million. The takeover bid, which is reportedly welcomed by the British government

Vosper Thornycroft Holdings announced that they will pay $19 million for the Atlanta-based Griffin Services Inc. In an effort to expand to the U.S., the British naval shipbuilder and defense service, Vosper Thornycroft will pay $12 million more depending on Griffin’s performance. The privately-held Griffin, with an order book totaling over $300 million, operates at military sites across the U.S.

Having recently signed a new 10-year contract with the National Park Service (NPS) for passenger service between Key West, Fla., and the Dry Tortugas National Park, Massachusetts-based Yankee Fleet has ordered a new 250-passenger, high-speed catamaran from Gladding-Hearn Shipbuilding

When the long-time operators of the National Park Service passenger route from Key West, Florida, to Dry Tortugas National Park were looking to keep that contract and further upgrade the quality of their offerings in that market, they did what most satisfied customers would do: they went back to

PT-728, one of the few remaining examples of the torpedo-armed fast attack craft that helped America win WWII, is no ordinary boat. To help move the vessel carefully, HOSTAR Marine used a hydraulic yard trailer.
Portraying various sister boats

Norway's Maritime Partner is set to reach a landmark in its history as it completes the construction of its 2000th vessel since founding in 1994.
Maritime Partner CEO Peder Myklebust said the Aalesund based company is ‘immensely proud’ that its 2000th boat will be delivered to its

Hy-Line Cruises, a division of Hyannis Harbor Tours, Hyannis, Mass., has taken delivery of a new 300 passenger, high-speed catamaran from Gladding-Hearn Shipbuilding, the Duclos Corporation. This is the third Incat-designed fast ferry built by the shipyard for the Cape Cod tourism company

Lloyd’s Register has won a contract to provide classification services for the first six of the UK Royal Navy’s Type 45 destroyer, all to be built under survey in accordance with Lloyd’s Register’s Rules and Regulations for the Classification of Naval Ships

As a resounding endorsement of its long-term commitment to shipbuilding in the U.K., Vosper Thornycroft (VT) has created a state-of-the-art ship production facility within Portsmouth Naval Base. Having recently attained preliminary operational status through steel cutting on 295-ft

According to reports, BAE Systems is set to secure a $4B carrier contract.
BAE, which operates Clydeside yards at Govan and Scotstoun, has not won back the prized prime contractor role it controversially lost last year, but is nonetheless expected to take charge of the bulk of the construction

Aviva sold its RAC fleet businesses in a deal worth $159.3m. The deal involves a fleet of 27,000 vehicles, which have been bought by shipbuilding and support service group VT, formerly known as Vosper Thornycroft. More than half of the vehicles relate to a contract with the MoD to supply its

According to The News, Portchester-based VT Halmatic has told workers that up to 130 of the 270 workforce could be made redundant.
The business has been under threat for some months and has now announced it is to cut costs by making fewer types of boats and reducing the workforce.

According to reports, BAE Systems and VT Group plan to relaunch their British shipyards as big exporters of warships if a planned restructuring of their interests can be agreed.
BAE and VT, formerly Vosper Thornycroft, are in talks to merge their shipbuilding assets

International Paint was selected as the sole marine coatings supplier for the Royal Navy Type 45 Anti-Air Warfare Destroyer program, a contract worth nearly $4 million. The award by BAE Systems Naval Ships, the Prime Contract Organization, covers the first six ships in a potential series of

VT Halmatic announced a new Marine Products Spares Team to co-ordinate, support and process VT Halmatic spares orders.
Based at Portchester Shipyard, the new dedicated team of specialists will focus on handling customers and owners requirements in a timely and cost effective manner

SpecTec announced seven new yacht projects including:
1) CMN, France
SpecTec has been contracted for the delivery of a comprehensive IDEA management software system to M/Y Slipstream and sister vessel M/Y Cloud Nine. Both vessels are currently under construction at CMN shipyard in Cherbourg

USA Naiad Maritime Group, Inc. and VT Group plc (VT) announced Naiad Maritime Group’s completion of the acquisition of the collection of businesses known as the VT Motion Control Group, including Naiad Marine Systems, Maritime Dynamics, Vosper Motion Control and Vosper Stabilizers